Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating shampoo formula, high porosity. any tips?

Tagged: 

  • shampoo formula, high porosity. any tips?

    Posted by margi on December 21, 2019 at 8:02 pm

    water    7

    Slippery
    elm       4

    Aloe Vera            9

    Coco
    betaine     17

    Sodium
    Cocoyl Glutamate           17

    Apple cider
    vinegar         5

    Citric acid
               1

    Shea butter        7

    Silk
    protein        9

    Wheat amino
    acids         3

    glycerin 10

    Cetyl
    alcohol      8

    any professional sugestions are welcome.  personal opinions are not preferred. unless you have a reason to share them :)  

    the shampoo is  not supposed to be stripping of oils, since afro hair can already be pretty dry. im also trying to coat the hair. this is of coures nto the final formula but a place to work from. 

    OldPerry replied 4 years, 11 months ago 6 Members · 20 Replies
  • 20 Replies
  • belassi

    Member
    December 23, 2019 at 3:55 pm

    Vinegar???

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    December 23, 2019 at 5:27 pm

    I don’t even know where to start. It’s not only vinegar. Sorry, but toss that formula out and start again. Sometimes there’s a way to advice to tweak something to make it better but in this case it’s easier just to start again.

  • OldPerry

    Member
    December 23, 2019 at 7:00 pm

    I agree with @ngarayeva001 - this isn’t a suitable formula for a shampoo.  You have filled it with ingredients that don’t work in shampoos including…

    Cetyl alcohol
    Shea butter
    Glycerin

    Then you have ingredients that are just “feature” ingredients (they have almost no functional benefit) that shouldn’t be included in the formula at levels higher than 0.1% including…

    Slippery elm
    Aloe Vera
    Apple cider vinegar
    Silk protein
    Wheat amino acids

    So the only ingredients worth using and experimenting in trying to develop a formula are… 

    Water
    Coco betaine      (secondary detergent)
    Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate           (detergent)
    Citric acid            (pH adjuster)

    But I think you are asking the shampoo to do too much.  Shampoos can do 1 thing well, clean hair.  (2 in 1 shampoos don’t work as well as a separate shampoo+conditioner)  Shampoos are not meant to coat the hair, they are meant to remove things from the hair.

    If you want to coat the hair, make a conditioner.

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    December 23, 2019 at 7:10 pm

    Perry, please correct me if I’m wrong but I clearly remember reading in some legitimate book (probably it was Harry’s) that although black skin is quite different from caucasian morphologically (more sebaceous glands, different thickness of stratum corneum, some other aspects), black hair are not that different and can be treated just as dry hair. adding all those oils makes no sense. So, polyquats, silicones and a little less of detergent would do the trick. 

  • OldPerry

    Member
    December 23, 2019 at 7:38 pm

    Yes, polyquats, silicones, and less detergent would be the approach I would take.

    However, I wouldn’t go so far as saying “adding all those oils makes no sense” as this becomes a question of aesthetics & product performance which is a subjective judgement.

    As far as ethnic hair differences go, I don’t believe the science is complete enough to definitively say there are or aren’t biological differences in hair protein structure. This study suggests there aren’t many differences but that doesn’t look at the types of treatment people use on their hair. I also don’t necessarily agree with their classifications of caucasian, black and asian. Human populations are more complex than this. 

  • margi

    Member
    December 24, 2019 at 11:20 am

    aight i see hahhaa. 

    i get it yall not used to this. but i did get all of these ingridients from other popular shampoos tho, (yup even the shea butter and vinegar)  and also what i was tryna do with the vinegar is (couse i feel like i gotta explaine that one) to close the cuticle and also it be having some good stuff for the hair, vitamisn and stuff ( i know yall dont like that stuff topical) 

    tho that was probably in a lot smaller percentage.  :D 

    and i am not and i repeat not putting siliconesin this shampoo, m mm. 
    that stuff dont do me right. 

    and also i would recomend to understand what im tryna do. to check out some afro hair shampoos, the cheap ones and the ones that make you live in a box for a month. aka tha espensive ones 

    but one thing i actually dont get how to do is the percentages tho. im mad bad at that. anywhere i can get that on lock? maybe your “how to become a better chemist book”?

    hahaa thank yall tho. 

    i tried this for my low porosity hair. this be good to me
    https://organigrowhairco.com/collections/shampoo/products/growpoo-clarifying-shampoo 

    i aint try this one tho
    https://www.sheamoisture.com/mongongo-and-hemp-seed-oils-high-porosity-moisture-seal-shampoo/764302202042.html

    https://www.healthline.com/health/apple-cider-vinegar-hair

    Perry
    ngarayeva001
    Belassi (yes vinegar)

  • margi

    Member
    December 24, 2019 at 11:24 am

    and if yall thought that was messed up. go check out my low porosity one.

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    December 24, 2019 at 2:10 pm

    @margi

    Water    QS to 100

    Slippery elm       1

    Aloe Vera            10

    Coco betaine     10

    Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate           20

    Apple cider vinegar         3

    Citric acid            QS to adjust pH to 5.6

    Shea butter        .05 to 1 (maximum)

    Silk protein        1

    Wheat amino acids         1

    glycerin 3

    Cetyl alcohol      DELETE

    Xanthan Gum 0.5

    Preservative of your choice

  • OldPerry

    Member
    December 24, 2019 at 4:57 pm

    @margi - One of the things you have to realize is that companies put many ingredients in formulas for marketing reasons only.

    Apple cider vinegar will not “close the cuticle.” I know people on the Internet think it does and that is why companies put it in their products. But the reality is that it doesn’t and consumers would have no way of telling whether their cuticle is open or closed. If you get your hair wet, your cuticles will be “open.” It doesn’t matter what is in your formula.

    Let’s look at the example you shared from sheamoistrue. This is their ingredient list…

    Water, Decyl Glucoside, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Sodium Cocoyl lsethionate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Glycol Distearate, Glycerin (Vegetable), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Panthenol, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter**, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Ricinodendron Rautanenii (Mongongo) Oil, Cannabis Sativa (Hemp) Seed Oil, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Hydrolyzed Adansonia Digitata Seed Extract, Avena Sativa (Oat) Peptide, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Chondrus Crispus Extract, Vinegar, Fragrance (Essential Oil Blend), Sodium Benzoate, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Caprylyl Glycol

    I could make a product that works pretty much exactly the same using only the following ingredients…

    Water, Decyl Glucoside, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Sodium Cocoyl lsethionate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Glycol Distearate, Glycerin (Vegetable), Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Fragrance (Essential Oil Blend), Sodium Benzoate, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Caprylyl Glycol

    Everything I’ve omitted is simply a marketing ingredient included to help boost their marketing story.

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    December 24, 2019 at 6:00 pm

    There’s a weird tendency nowadays to go back to middle ages. There’s an entire community in the internet who religiously advise against washing hair. All these co-washes, nopoo whatever.. I am all for progress, but progress is when you go from caustic soap to SLES not when you go from SLES to washing hair with shea butter and rinsing with vinegar. 

    Regarding repeating and emphasizing that silicones ‘don’t do you right’, you are either not using the right silicones or not using the right amount.
  • margi

    Member
    December 24, 2019 at 9:41 pm

    MarkBroussard thank you

  • margi

    Member
    December 24, 2019 at 9:46 pm

    i know i know, but since im low porosity and all, my hair gets build up. and its more in to the no silicones shampoos,and that kind of stuff. 
    and of coures i dont know to much about formulating today, so you know i trust what u say, just kinda hard to wrap my head around that its SOOOO much they putting in, just because.

    but thank you tho, fr

    ngarayeva001

  • margi

    Member
    December 24, 2019 at 9:56 pm

    yea aight. but its kinda like for high porosity tho. and correct me if im wrong ( again (lol)) but that shampoo looks like its gonna leav the hair dry, you know they get frizzy, and dry and it brakes and so on. but yea i get they dont need all of those other ingridients tho. 

    Perry

    thanks for the help tho.

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    December 24, 2019 at 11:31 pm

    @Margi:

    Add 4% Betaine and 0.5% Babassu Oil or 0.5% Coconut Oil and that will help tame the frizzies.

  • margi

    Member
    December 25, 2019 at 4:25 am

    thank you, appreciate it. MarkBroussard

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    December 25, 2019 at 7:39 am

    @MarkBroussard, you mean trimethylglicine not CAPB right? I read in the supplier’s brochure it has some benefits for hair but decided to keep it for leave on products, because it was pricey..

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    December 25, 2019 at 10:20 pm

    Correct:  Betaine = Trimethylglycin … it’s an osmolyte that helps to retain water and penetrates the hair shaft.

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    December 25, 2019 at 10:20 pm

    Thank you

  • Cafe33

    Member
    December 27, 2019 at 3:06 am

    Perry said:

    I could make a product that works pretty much exactly the same using only the following ingredients…

    Water, Decyl Glucoside, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Sodium Cocoyl lsethionate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Glycol Distearate, Glycerin (Vegetable), Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Fragrance (Essential Oil Blend), Sodium Benzoate, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Caprylyl Glycol

    Everything I’ve omitted is simply a marketing ingredient included to help boost their marketing story.

    I hope I’m not hijacking the thread but what would be theoretical usage rate for Decyl Glucoside? It is coming in first behind water. Wouldn’t some pH adjustment be needed or the Sodium Benzoate would not do its job ? 

  • OldPerry

    Member
    December 27, 2019 at 5:39 pm

    It depends on the formula but 15% or so would be a place to start. 
    Yes, you’d need something to adjust the pH to make the sodium benzoate work.

Log in to reply.

Chemists Corner